a blog about building a plane…

Monthly Archives: April 2015

Ah, the cowling! If there was a more iterative process on this project, I don’t know where it is. The only way to fit this to the plane is to have it on and off about 300 times. To top it off, it is obviously one of the most visible parts of the plane and one where your fiberglassing talent (or lack thereof) is most obvious. Here’s a gallery of photos I took as I struggled through this part of the project.

If there ever was a photo to prove that I did not have professional assistance in this project, it’s this one! I needed some weight to hold the oil door down while the micro cured so I grabbed a few surplus bricks, a left over piece of flooring and two pieces of 2×4 to construct this highly sophisticated hold down. Hey, you do what you have to, and it worked!

For some reason, Van’s sells firewall fittings that don’t fit the control cables they sell. WTF? Many builders buy them from Van’s and then attempt to drill them out to the right size.

Why Van’s doesn’t choose to sell the right parts for their control cables, I don’t know, but you can buy the right sized fittings directly from the manufacturer at Doubletee Products. In fact, call them and just tell them you need fittings for the cables that Van’s sells. They will make them to spec and ship them directly to you.

Just a shot behind the panel before we buttoned up the forward skin. As bad as it looks, it’s the best I could do. As much as I enjoyed the wiring process, and I really did, I think that next time, I’ll let someone else do it.